Tunbridge Wells West - September 1983

It was an open secret that BR policy had been to run down the link from Eridge to Tunbridge Wells over many years through a policy of systematic neglect. Unwelcome and shortsighted though it was, the August 1982 closure proposal came as no real surprise to those who knew the route.

Besides an appalling backlog of 20mph 'temporary' speed restrictions, the peeling paint and palpable sense of decay at Tunbridge Wells West was proof enough that the nationalised rail company had long since lost all interest in developing what should have been a thriving service - and could be one again...

Indeed, with no less than five signalboxes - including two at this station - involved in operating only 4.5 miles of track, to the more cynical observer it seemed almost as if BR had deliberately set out to run the route as uneconomically as possible - the better to make a good 'case' for closure when the time came.

The A box, seen here, stood at the western end of the station site on land which is now occupied by a 'Homebase' store. Although its external condition by this stage was pitiable, the signalmen kept its interior spotless to the last. Not long after final closure in August 1985, arsonists had the dubious satisfaction of destroying this Southern Railway structure.